October 19, 2010

"Goyim Were Born Only To Serve Us": The Moral Wisdom Of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef

I wrote about “Ovadia,” the beloved head of the Council of Torah Sages and the leading Sephardi “adjudicator” (which is what the Jerusalem Post called him yesterday), about a month ago and in four different posts: here, here, here, and here. This was right around the time when I offended so many people with my comments on the heartlessness of jihadist Islam. It should also be very alarming that Shas, the political party of the Jews from the Arab, Persian and Mediterranean orbits, should get its counsel from this heartless bigot. Shas, after all, is a crucial part of the present Israeli coalition.

It is a numerically flimsy coalition, and therefore the prime minister often has to bend to the wishes of either Rabbi Ovadia or his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who is a different kind of thug. (I’ve also written about this hoodlum before.) Since I believe that Bibi Netanyahu is genuine in his pursuit of peace—which I am convinced the various Palestinians, except for Salam Fayyad, are not- I would prefer a coalition with Kadima which is only marginally more trustworthy that the prime minister’s present partners.

Anyway, I’ve wandered from the sainted rabbi whose last piece of wisdom (here quoted and characterized by Jonah Mandel in the Post) is this:

“Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world – only to serve the People of Israel,” he said in his weekly Saturday night sermon on the laws regarding the actions non-Jews are permitted to perform on Shabbat.

According to Yosef, the lives of non-Jews in Israel are safeguarded by divinity, to prevent losses to Jews.

“In Israel, death has no dominion over them... With gentiles, it will be like any person – they need to die, but [God] will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money.

This is his servant... That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew,” Yosef said.

Of course, there is a difference between these extremist Jews and jihadist fanatics. One doesn’t kill: the other does.